When I got home I remediated the straight Black Gold Cactus Mix. I added a lot of dry stall, some granite grit and a bunch of perlite. I'm pleased with the end result.
After making the new mix, I went and redid the pottings of the two Pachypodiums I potted yesterday. As surmised, the straight Black Gold Cactus Mix was still wet from yesterday evening's watering very timely (and now I can stop fretting). Taking some advice I read yesterday (on Facebook - wow, a second good time from Facebook in as many posts...) I grabbed the shallowest pots that I had that would still hold these plants. Spending more time with these plants, I really noticed some 'soft' spots. Poking yielded a nasty surprise - an experience of popping infected plant blisters (at least that what it felt like). I removed the rotten sections and took considerable care to bury just the roots - any trunk-like structure was propped up above the media (which I augmented even more with dry stall). If there were no leaves sprouting, I would not have bothered potting these and would have given them a chance to just callous over. But with leaves poking out, I did not want to deprive them of a chance to grow and develop in the healthy areas - but just burying the roots is a good thing regardless of the plant's condition. Here are the end results:
I've never had to scrape off rotting sections from a live plant before (and then repot it...). Most of the time I have experienced rot, it has taken the plant beyond the point of no return. These plants obviously have a lot of life left in them, and from reading other people's experience, removing the rotten sections, drying and replanting are all common place with Pachypodiums. As these plants were given to us, I seemed to be less concerned about being gentle - this is actually a good thing. I'll document the process and post more as this develops.
After making the new mix, I went and redid the pottings of the two Pachypodiums I potted yesterday. As surmised, the straight Black Gold Cactus Mix was still wet from yesterday evening's watering very timely (and now I can stop fretting). Taking some advice I read yesterday (on Facebook - wow, a second good time from Facebook in as many posts...) I grabbed the shallowest pots that I had that would still hold these plants. Spending more time with these plants, I really noticed some 'soft' spots. Poking yielded a nasty surprise - an experience of popping infected plant blisters (at least that what it felt like). I removed the rotten sections and took considerable care to bury just the roots - any trunk-like structure was propped up above the media (which I augmented even more with dry stall). If there were no leaves sprouting, I would not have bothered potting these and would have given them a chance to just callous over. But with leaves poking out, I did not want to deprive them of a chance to grow and develop in the healthy areas - but just burying the roots is a good thing regardless of the plant's condition. Here are the end results:
I've never had to scrape off rotting sections from a live plant before (and then repot it...). Most of the time I have experienced rot, it has taken the plant beyond the point of no return. These plants obviously have a lot of life left in them, and from reading other people's experience, removing the rotten sections, drying and replanting are all common place with Pachypodiums. As these plants were given to us, I seemed to be less concerned about being gentle - this is actually a good thing. I'll document the process and post more as this develops.
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